There's talk of Apple buying Tesla, and that would make a lot of sense.
Huh, Apple has zero competency in auto manufacturing, which is Tesla's core problem. I think this makes very little sense. Furthermore, Apple has always stayed away from big acquisitions because they know how difficult integrating a large corporation is. Historically, most of their deals are pretty small by M&A standards. Apple is essentially buying the IP and the engineers in most cases. At the time, the Beats acquisition for $3B was the largest they had ever made. I didn't really "get it" but you could argue "consumer electronics" play and for Apple, a $3B mistake is basically loose change in the couch cushions.
Toyota would make tons of sense. Besides hybrid drivetrains, they have not invested much in zero emissions or autonomous driving. They are the gold standard in manufacturing and quality control, and should whip Tesla into shape.
But the irony is that Elon thinks his company will one day be worth $500B. So it's more likely that he would ultimately panic sell for $8B than it is for him to take a reasonable offer like $50B (anything larger than that and you have very few available suitors, esp. once a recession hits). I'd argue that only Toyota, GM and VW group have the size to acquire Tesla straight up. But GM is furiously belt-tightening and VW group absorbed massive financial sanctions from Dieselgate.